independent.za: "we've been eating gm foods for five years." "at monsanto we believe we contribute to eliminate poverty and food shortage." but does the positive outweigh the negative? monsanto has given us saccharin, pcb's, agent orange, rbgh, rbst, etcetera. do a search on 'epa' and 'toxic releases.' the sheer amount of cash these folks spend on lobbying will make your head spin.

washington post: islam attracting many survivors of rwandan genocide. "many converts say they chose islam because of the role that some catholic and protestant leaders played in the genocide. human rights groups have documented several incidents in which christian clerics allowed tutsis to seek refuge in churches, then surrendered them to hutu death squads, as well as instances of hutu priests and ministers encouraging their congregations to kill tutsis." cue john lennon's "imagine."

santa fe new mexican: santa fe scientists weigh in on iraq. "the bush administration has recently pushed for military involvement due to concern over a shipment of precision-grade aluminum tubing recently sent from china to jordan." we're going to war over tubing? seriously, though. read the article. gives another small point of info in the whole puzzle.

cnn: bad air threatens national parks. travel to grand canyon, and you'll spend your time swapping filters on your camera trying to find some magical combination to eliminate l.a. smog that drifts eastwards and obscures the canyon. it's a patently clear example, and completely obscene.

now that i've bored you to death, on to linkage.

being ruthless with one's own state of fitness has always served me well.

did a little ascending up at the ski basin, straight up the ski runs. seeing how my knee was progressing. much better! was pretty strong on the uphill grind, but a little vague on descending. no pain, mind you ... just not the reliable joint i'm used to. i'll continue my regimen. one thing's for sure ... no matter how hard you aerobically train, there's no substitute for getting up to altitude. i've been battering myself at 7,500, and i still get winded at 10,000. then again, i was carrying a pack full of camera gear and water (~30 pounds) ... which i haven't been training with.